This is a guide to encourage the usage of Bowling Bash as a serious PvM/PvP/WoE skill for LK’s. It will contain information about the basic mechanics for the skill, how to use it, and how not to use it (I.e: Gutter Lines) – basically everything required for complete understanding of this deadly, yet underestimated skill.

Now, enough talk, and on to the guide. ~

[-Bowling Bash Updates-]

Nerfed after Comodo, BB has been reduced to an weak skill, a pale alternative for Brandish. Juno and Heritage however, (for inRO) updated the skill so that it would Hit the MOB twice with both hits being counted separately. (Yes, that means doubles the status chance).

The two hits of the skill are counted separately but proc at the same moment. [inRO]

Monsters can take a Maximum of 2 hits from a single BB no matter how many BomB AoE’s (explained later) overlap their cell. [inRO]

Skills that have a set number of hit deflection are affected twice. [inRO]

The knockback effect comes before the hits proc. Due to this, Safety Wall does NOT block the skill, and the target gets moved one cell out of it. [inRO]

Only the first hit's damage can be doubled by Lex Aeterna. [inRO]

Status effects from cards and special weapons apply for both hits separately. [inRO] This includes Mail and Sword Breakers. (Do not posses these two wepons)

The knockback effect will move the target into the direction the caster has last moved or faced toward. [inRO] When moving away from a target and then performing the skill, it results in a suck-in-like effect where the target becomes drawn to the caster. [inRO]

Knockback effect does not work during WoE. [inRO]

Even when used with a bow on a Rogue class, the skill is still melee, NOT ranged. Hence it is not blocked by Pneuma, and also does not consume arrows. [Testing Pending]

If hitting a target trapped in Spider Web with a Fire endowed weapon and Bowling Bash, the Spider Web will burn away after the first hit of Bowling Bash. This means there will be no ATK bonus from Spider Web for the second hit of Bowling Bash. [Testing Pending]

When the skills Fails, either due to bad positioning (will be explained later) or Gutter lines (will be explained later), the targeted monster is hit once, with 600% dmg mob and pushed in the direction you came from. [inRO]

Since the Cast Delay is based on ASPD, which is the caster's sprite animation itself basically, engaging a foe that has Shield Reflect turned on, results in the animation to be broken when the caster takes damage. This essentially negates the cast delay, and Bowling Bash can be recasted immediately without much delay, resulting in a very high damage output per second. [Testing Pending]

The skill used to be only limited to hitting a maximum of 11 targets at once, but with the update, it can hit an unlimited amound of targets, as long as they are next to each other. [inRO 15 Targets]

[-How to use Bowling Bash-]

The usage of bowling bash is quite simple, when compared to the complexity of some other skills in the game. There are only two checks required:

1) Proper Execution

First off, Bowling Bash will always hit in the direction you last walked. (simliar to how backstab and counter attack works) Even though it looks like I should hit this poring to the south-west, since i'm facing east.

…it goes east. This should help you to aim better. But remember, the enemy will only slide 5 cells from it's location, not yours. If I was aiming this into a mob, I would only have 3 'safety' cells instead of 5.

Please note, that while the proper movement is required for the First Hit ONLY, and all subsequent hits will not malfuction As long as you have not moved

Secondly, the pics are outdated as BB procs only once and will be updated soon.

Bowling Bash Pushes back the target and gives a double attack even if there is no further mob.

The two hits of Bowling Bash are counted seperatly, and can fail Hit checks. In that case, there could be one or even two Miss per monster.

Correct execution of BB on a mob will give Double Hits to all critters caught in the mob.

BB can, however, also Fail even with correct execution. This is due to the second check:

2) Gutter Lines

Every map has them. They are unavoidable pieces of programming. The best explanation I’ve found for the gutter lines is:

I don't think it's the existance of the graphical phenomenon that's puzzling everyone, but the fact that *mechanically* it's impossible to bowling bash across those lines - that's a server-side issue, and since the entire map should be memory-resident on the server side, right off I can't think of a good reason why the server should necessarily encounter a blocking problem like that.

One possibility is that this is an artifact of iRO's system for reducing the scope of collision detection calculations. Collision detection is computationally quite intensive, and so all games use some scheme to reduce the universe of objects against which a possible collision has to be checked. One of the simplest, fastest (and most crude) ways of doing this is to break an area map up into "collision zones," and confine the scope of collision checks for a moving object exclusively to other objects/walls which share its collision zone. If iRO uses some scheme like this, it may disallow objects to be suddenly bumped across collision zones so as to prevent having to spontaneously expand the scope of its collision checks to more than one zone for a moving object.

Here’s a pic that shows Gutter Lines in Zipper Bear Map (note that the sofware used for this is illegal and don't ask me for it) (also note the bottom right hand corner)

The presence of Gutter Lines complicates BB tremendously, and my best supposition is that it is a Bug, BB shouldn’t fail, and hopefully, eventually, these lines would be corrected.

On most maps, like the sphinx one I had tested BB in inRO from, gutter lines are rarely a problem. But on winding twisting maps, like CT Ho’s, CT Dungeons, Magma etc…Gutter Lines can mean death for the BB knight. Thus, the simplest way to be aware of Gutter Lines while mobbing is to either memorize then for your usual leveling maps :P or, put /where in Alt + 1 and keep on hotkey’ing it.

Every coordinate that can be divided by 40, (120,40), (160, 28) indicate the presence of gutter lines.

In this picture, the yellow lines are the gutter lines, and the Blue’ish area around it is the Gutter Area.

**BB will not work on Gutter Lines. It cannot push monsters across it.

BB will not work if YOU are standing in the Blue Area.

BB Works if you are standing OUTSIDE the Blue area and BB the target inside.**

[-How the Checks Work and Range of BB-]

Earlier it could only target 11 monsters, but with the update, it can target an infinite number due to overlapping “Bomb” Areas.

(Ps. I’ve made a simplified figure to explain the mechanics properly)

If BB is executed correctly on the Red Monster, the Red monster takes 1000% damage and becomes a “Bomb” and is flung back. If it hits another monster, it explodes immediately. If it does not hit a monster, and Bowling Bash either fails due to incorrect procedure, or no other monsters present, then the stuck monster will simply explode after it’s pushed back the 5 cells.Thus ends the role of the first check.

The “Bomb” has a 3x3 AoE centered at its cell. Any monster caught in this AoE will first be checked for Gutter Lines. If no Gutter Lines are present, it will also take 1000% damage and become a “Bomb.” As the Blue and Green monsters do.

Although the AoE of Blue monster overlaps with the first red bomb, it cannot damage it. Monsters can take a Maximum of 2 hits from a single BB no matter how many BomB AoE’s overlap their cell.

Finally, the Green area of effect overlaps the brown monster’s cell. The check is applied to the Brown monster. The borwn Moster FAILS the cheak due to presence of Gutter Line cell (40,40). Brown monster takes an estimated 600% damage and has no “Bomb” AoE.

This way, there is potential for INFINITE Bowling Bash Range.

Bowling Bash in PvP : works as it does in PvM.

[-Bowling Bash in WoE-]

Now, here’s the big thing: how well does bowling bash work in WoE.

Well, it works almost exactly as it does in PvM and PvP… only difference is, there is no pushback. This is people are crowed close together, no gutter lines are present, and BB is executed correctly, BB will hit Everyone for 1000% Damage. (Glass of Water, you Brandish Knights)

But yes, inRO testing for this is pending. I will post pics for inRO asap.

Now that you know how and where and with what to use BB Bash, let me procede with conventional and specialized BB stats and Builds. Remember that I Hold great disdain for Pierce, Brandish and CS without Magic Strings/Poem of Braggi (whatever the hell the name is), so yes, these will be marred with this bit of personal prejudice.

[-Discussion of Stats-]

Str in a Bowling Bash LK is far better utilized than in Brandish Builds due to BB high dmg mod. Brandish does around 560%~ dmg at the first cell, 300% at the second, and lesser as the distance increases. At the 5th and last cell, Brandish Sphere does 1 base dmg. Useful for inflicting status effects, but not much else.

BB does either 1000% or 600% dmg.

Because of the higher dmg mob, BB even after cranial and poopoo reductions can possesses killer dmg, whereas Brandish is reduced to a minor nuisance. The Brandish builds usually rely on CS to kill, which of course, is a minor nuisance without Braggi. Either that, or their become Status Inflictors and 2nd grade tanks. Neither of which I would want for my LK. I’d rather a make a Sniper for status effects, and a paladin for tanking. LK’s are frontline killers. That is why BB LK’s Should take max Str.

There are those of course, who would want more agi for Combo options with CS. For them a more hybrid build would be required.

120 STR will dish out the damage; the next factor is how fast you can dish out the damage. For this, ASPD and Dex are the important contributors. LK’s generally have High Dex, I wouldn’t recommend anything less then (51 +9) which lowers the .7s cast
time by 40%. A comparative study of varying ASPD using Doddler’s calc gives after Cast Delay’s of:

42 + 8 Agi, 51 + 9 Dex, Spear – BB after Cast Delay = .71s

62 + 8 Agi, 51 + 9 Dex, Spear – BB after Cast Delay =0.63

42 + 8 Agi, 51 + 9 Dex, dagger – BB after Cast Delay = .59s

62 + 8 Agi, 51 + 9 Dex, dagger – BB after Cast Delay =0.52

This implies that unless you measure your reaction times in 1/10th’s of a second, ASPD doesn’t really make “that” much of a difference. However, despite what these numbers say…it does. This has mainly to do with reaction times. A 70 Agi LK will dish out dmg faster than a 1-30 Agi LK. It’s a choice between Higher dmg/Survivability and more damage per minute.

Vit is a very important stat for Lk’s. Besides AD, which really has no counter above 30-40 vit, a 60-80 Vit LK with Superior/Green Boots has enough HP to out pot, out damage just about every skill in the game. Vit is required for reducing chance of status effects, its duration, HP Pool, Vit Def, and basic Survivability.

Luk plays a minor role. If you have some points to spare, I’d say invest them in 30~ Luk and get cheap status reduction without increasing AD dmg.

For Dex, 51 +9 is more than enough. Any more and you are stymieing you build.

[-Stat Builds-]

Build One

Amazing damage with very high dmg output makes for a killer build. The 70 Vit ensures low chance, and low duration, and 19k~ Hp with Green/Superior. The build is simple and speaks for itself. A true hybrid.

Build One Agi Variant

A bit lower damage, but faster spamming for those who like the speed. Agi equips will ensure decent flee, nothing to level up with, but the occasional dodge. Vit remains the same, so this build has all the sturdyness of the basic Hybrid.

For those who can’t let go of their love of BS, this LK is more a killer cum Status effecter. 110 str is a must, with low-moderate agi. More of a niche build. Might be good in inRO.

[-Wepons-]

- Ice Pick. High def monster and dungeons, like magma and ice dungeon. Works well in places like Chilvalry and castle too. - Quad Carded Pikes with endow deal HUGE amounts of damage on low~moderate defence monsters. This is a very good option for places like High Orcs, Bathories. - Brooca, Too scarce atm, but will start becoming avalliable with the adevnt of Hugal and BioLabs, this pike is great for PvP and against Neutral Property Monsters. - Poll Axe[1], Atm, the best wepon for CS, this a must aquire for all you CS lovers. - Combat Knife. Another lovely wepon to have in PvP. Will be more widely avaliable with Hugal and BioLabs. - Executioner. Amazing wepon for PvP. Will require endow for Chivalry and pvP to change property from Shadow.